The Backup Plan
by LombaxFan
Summary: Ratchet and Sasha have been dating steadily for a few months. Then something happens that could tear them apart forever. Has Dr. Nefarious struck again even after his defeat? Read and find out!  The title may be changed in the near future
1. Prologue

**Legal disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet and Clank or any of its subsidiaries. This story is non profit, (of course) and is simply for entertainment purposes only.**

Hi! This is my first story! I know it will need work, so if you have advice for me, spill it! Now, if you haven't noticed, this is the prologue. The first chapter will be out within a few weeks.

I feel that a lot could have happened with Ratchet and Sasha if none of the other games after Up Your Arsenal came out.

So, we're going to go back in time to the very end of UYA. Before Nefarious came back, before the search for the Lombax Secret, and before the Dreadzone. We go back to right after the premier of the first Secret Agent Clank movie! (Note: I am perfectly aware that UYA came out well over six years ago! So if your going to flame me, and please don't, don't flame me about that!) Our story begins with Ratchet and Sasha still sitting in their seats, watching the credits roll, but not really watching…

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It was getting late, everyone had already dispersed out of the now empty theater, except for two. Ratchet and Sasha were still there, holding hands and finishing off a soda and some popcorn. The only reason the Galactic President wasn't there was because of the fact that he had received an urgent call from the Presidential Compound on Marcadia, something about a blown induction coil whose repair needed to be supervised.

Ratchet finished the soda with a loud slurp, then sighed. Sasha giggled and playfully batted him over the ears. "What?" Ratchet asked innocently. "Just you!" Sasha said. "Learn some manners!" Ratchet pretended to look sullen but he knew she was only joking.

The credits finished rolling and they sat there for a few minutes, making small talk. "You know, even though Dr. Nefarious is gone, there are still a bunch of robotic Tyhrranoids out there, running amok! We need someone to do something about them." Ratchet began to get where this was going. "So," he said "You want me to go out and hunt down the rest of these Tyhrranoids…" Sasha looked at him and smiled. "Oh, would you? Thank you so much!" "Whoa whoa whoa, I didn't say I would do it!" Sasha sighed. "Fine! I'll do it! But only for you!" Ratchet said, smiling. "I knew you would!" Sasha said. She had been acting like that all day and now Ratchet knew why. Sasha leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, now back to her normal self.

"So, the movie was pretty good huh?" Ratchet said nonchalantly. "Yeah! Clank really has a career in this stuff doesn't he?" Sasha laughed. "Yeah… Ah well, its pretty late and I should probably be heading home…" Ratchet trailed off. He was anxious. He was going to ask Sasha out. 'Sure, they had gone to the movie together but everyone was there! Did that really count? What if she says no? Would she say yes? Where would we go if she did? What would we do?' All these thoughts ran through his head. Then he thought to himself, 'What the hell!' and then said, "Uh, Sasha, do you want to, ya know, go somewhere sometime?" Sasha's heart leapt, she had been waiting for him to ask that ever since he had saved her ship from certain disaster. "Yes Ratchet, I'd love to!" She said, almost softly. Ratchet beamed and leaned over to kiss her on the mouth. When they broke apart they sat staring into each other's eyes.

Then Sasha's phone rang, breaking the moment. It was her father, of course! He wanted her to come back to the Presidential Compound immediately. She sighed and turned to Ratchet. "My dad needs me to come home right away, sorry…" Ratchet shook his head. "Its totally ok! I know how your dad can be!" Sasha laughed then said, "Aww, I just remembered, my dad brought me here, and he took the ship back to Marcadia!" Ratchet smiled, "It's fine, I can take you back!" Then Sasha shook her head. "No," She said. "I _really_ don't think my father would approve of you driving me home, you know he doesn't really like you." Ratchet nodded, understanding. "I guess I'll just call The Supernova Taxi. Just as long as that sleezeball doesn't answer the phone." Ratchet looked confused when she finished. Then she sighed and said, "You know, that one that picked up Quark when he crash landed after blowing up the Leviathan." "Oh!" Ratchet said, suddenly understanding, "Well if that guy starts talkin' to you like he did to quark, when he comes to pick you up he's gonna have real trouble on his hands!" Ratchet said, then Sasha shoved him in the shoulder. "It'll be fine! Remember, I'm the presidents daughter, I can have him jailed for life if I want!"

She said it would be fine, and it was, when she called all the cab drivers were out so an automated driver answered. She gave the address, and the AI hung up. In unison, they got up and, holding hands again, they walked out the theater doors. The taxi was already there. "Uh," Ratchet started. "So, I'll call you soon so we can arrange something…" "Of course Ratchet!" She said back. Then they shared a goodbye kiss, and Sasha got into the taxi. Ratchet could see her waving out the back window as the taxi sped away.

He walked back to his ship, lighthearted.

Meanwhile inside deep space Ranger production outpost 66:

A figure, obviously male, wearing a black cloak, was sprinting down the dark halls of the outpost. He was small and lithe, perfectly suited for his mission. He was also Dr. Nefarious's last servant, besides Lawrence of course.

The mission was supposed to be simple, get in, do the job, and get out. Unfortunately the get in part had gone awry. Now he knew he was not getting out. It had been a stupid mistake, he forgot to disable one of the lasers that had been guarding the back entrance, And tripped the alarm. Not a blaring alarm, but one that alerted the facilitie's AI.

It stalked him for a while, with thermal cameras, waiting to see where he was going. When it figured him out, only minutes ago, it had realized that he was headed for the main control room. What it didn't realize was that it may be the end of him, but it had not acted soon enough. He would have time to complete his mission. As he always did. He never failed the doctor, and most certainly would not now, in his last moments.

The AI had dispatched ten of the security rangers, classifying the intrusion as an alpha priority. They would catch up to him in minutes, but again, not soon enough.

He stopped in the middle of a corridor, and consulted the map in his head. He had been studying the facility for the past six months. He could walk around the outpost, inside and out, blindfolded and not bump into anything. He could do the same inside the ventilation ducts. Remembering the map now, he found where he was at. And that was right where he needed to be.

Third door on the left, hallway 492A, right there. He walked over to it, there was an activation port beside it. This port also supported the Hacker device hardware. He was very skilled with the Hacker and when he inserted the three prongs into their corresponding holes, he knew that this was the most complex hacker code he had seen in his life. Fitting, he thought, that his most challenging hacker code would be his last. He smiled grimly, and worked the controls. He had the lock open in thirty seconds flat.

Then he opened the door. He stepped inside, re-closing the door behind him. There were three monitors. He powered up two and positioned himself in front of the center one. It prompted him for a username and password. He entered the username and once again consulted his memory for the password.

It was the other thing he had been memorizing for the past six months. Twenty digits long. He had memorized ever number. He could recite it backwards. And forwards of course.

He entered it in, and there was a ping, and the monitor switched to the home screen. Or not so much a home screen, but more of a blank page with a cursor at the top, waiting for him to input commands.

First he opened up the file named 'Logic and Programming' Then found the file labeled with the next day's date. He opened it. It contained the lines of code he would be replacing in the next few minutes.

From his pocket, he drew a data disk. Which he inserted into the second monitor he had powered up, this one already at the command screen, since he had logged in on the primary one. As soon as the disk was inserted, lines of code popped up on the screen. Similar to the ones displayed on the central monitor, but with minor, yet major, changes.

He would have to input them manually, because the mainframe had an automated program that would stop him from uploading it directly. He could have disabled it but he didn't have the time, so he deleted the lines of code on the central monitor and began to key in the lines contained in the data disk.

He had to hand it to the doctor, the code was completely and totally brilliant. There were some lines of it that he didn't even comprehend. The mission had been Nefarious's last assignment for him, and it was not official until after he had been defeated. It was a back up plan. The doctor didn't believe he could fail but thought better of his overconfidence and created the code on the disk.

He entered the last line of code and saved the changes. Then he went to the activity log and deleted all logs of his entry and the changes he had made. He removed the data disk, then threw it in the incineration trash can next to the monitor. It was destroyed instantly.

He quickly logged off of the server and shut down both screens. And none to soon, the group of Rangers had caught up to him. They burst into the door, their guns leveled at him. He whipped around and, seeing them, yelled a battle cry and charged. There was a flash of light, then everything went black.

The last thought that ran through his mind was that he had not failed.

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So, what did you think? What can I improve upon? Comments people! =) In my opinion the prologue was a little dark towards the end. I don't really know. The first chapter will have quite a bit of action in it, and hopefully it will be released in a week or two! (Naturally, it will be more about Ratchet and Sasha, sort of unlike this one, which was made mostly to set up the plot.) I hope you like it and thanks for reading!


	2. The Chaos Effect

**Disclaimer notice: I am only going to do the legal disclaimer once, I don't want to type it over and over again on each chapter. So if you need to know that I don't own RAC or any of its subsidiaries, please refer to chapter 1. That is all. ****: )**

Hello again! Obviously this first update took a little longer than I expected, but oh well, its here now. I would like to say thanks to those of you who reviewed the prologue, it was a big help and very encouraging and I would love to hear more. I actually wrote this chapter twice, the first time though, I didn't particularly like it, which explains the longer than expected update. XD But anyways, enough chit chat, lets get to chapter 1, which takes place four months after the initial break in at outpost 66...

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"_Everything effects everything else, just as everything else effects everything."_

-Chaos Effect

Ratchet attached both shoulder pads of his Infernox armor in their correct positions. Then he pulled on his gloves. Looking down at himself, he made sure that all of the attachment latches were in their locked position. This confirmed, he glanced over at his helmet, its view ports gleaming after a recent polishing. Then he walked out of his room and into the hanger where his ship lay in wait.

After Nefarious's defeat, Ratchet had had a weapons closet installed in the wall to the right of his ship. The Phoenix had never had a weapons closet, until now. It wasn't a combat ship, and as such, had not had a need for any anti-personnel weapons. Plus, it had the Rangers, for what good they were.

He punched in the six digit code, which only he and Sasha knew, and the door slid open with a hiss. He only kept his most useful weapons on board, the rest were scattered around his home on Veldin.

He quickly selected three weapons. He would need to travel light on this mission. He chose the Heavy Lancer, the RYNO 2, and the Splitter Rifle. Then exited the room and closed and locked the door behind him.

He walked over to his ship and loaded the weapons into a compartment in the back of the cockpit, then ran through a system check on the ship to make sure everything was in order. In particular he checked the autopilot system, because his ship would be extracting both he and Clank once everything went to hell. It appeared to be running fine.

Then he went to go wake up Clank for the briefing that Sasha would give them that morning.

"Hey Clank, wake up, we gotta go!" Ratchet said, shaking the little robot, but not roughly, until he stirred. "Good morning Ratchet." He mumbled, then sat up. "Ready for the mission?" Asked Ratchet eagerly. "Absolutely, I am always ready for a good fight." Clank said with a confident nod. "Well come on then, lets get up to the bridge for the briefing, like we don't already know what's gonna happen anyways!" The Lombax said, fidgeting. "Calm down." Clank sighed. Then he hopped out of his charging port, "lets go then."

They got to the bridge a few minutes late, and Sasha mentioned it, but sort of blew it off with, "I'm sure your were making your preparations…" Then a schematic of a Tyhrranoid base appeared on the huge view screen behind her. "As you know," she began, "You have been eliminating some of the remaining robotic Tyhrranoids in the galaxy. We are currently in orbit over Tyhrranosis, the Tyhrranoid home planet. This is one of their major outposts. It guards the building that houses a research lab. We believe that they are attempting to create some type of chemical weapon. For Tyhrranoids, this normally wouldn't be possible, as their minds are not capable of grasping the concepts of chemistry. But now that they are robots, they have quickly learned the field, among others. Your goal is simple, infiltrate this outpost, and enter the lab. Then blow the ever loving crap out of it." Sasha finished, using fairly irregular vocabulary for a formal briefing. Ratchet smiled. "This will put a stop to any research that they are doing, and hopefully take some of them out to!" Sasha added. "That's all gentlemen. Your mission commences in fifteen!"

Ratchet stood up and turned to leave, then Sasha stopped him and he turned around. "Be careful hotshot." She whispered softly in his ear, then kissed him on the cheek. "I always will be." He whispered, then kissed her back. Then he turned around and headed towards his quarters.

Once there, he took his Infernox armor helmet of its pedestal, then donned it. He closed the latches around his neck and the moment he had the final latch in place, the armor's onboard AI announced its presence. It was an upgraded AI from his previous armor. This one however had a battle interface, it didn't exactly talk to him, it just monitored his situation and improved his HUD and radar. It wasn't much, but it helped.

When he got to his ship, Clank already had it powered up. The engine hummed as he got into the pilot's seat. Then he closed the canopy, and activated the navigational screen. He opened the hanger doors, took off, and flew towards the surface of Tyhrranosis…

The sandy plains of the planet flashed below the ship as it flew overhead. Ratchet opened the hatch and activated the ejector seats. He and clank were launched into the air, then Ratchet grabbed Clank and slung him onto his back.

The wind howled in Ratchet's big ears as he and Clank plummeted towards the ground. His eyes searched for a spot to land, somewhere discreet. He didn't want the enemy to know that they were there until the infiltration had gone as planned. Soon he spotted a place, an open clearing with a heavy covering of desert brush, out of sight of the outpost.

As they closed in on the spot, Clank powered up his Thruster-Pack, bringing them to a gentle stop on the ground. Ratchet checked all of his weapons to make sure that the barrels and mechanisms had not been contaminated by the dust kicked up by the landing. Then he glanced around, checking to make sure that there were no Tyhrranoids in the immediate area. Then he laid down on the ground, took out his Splitter Rifle and began to creep towards the building.

It took him well over an hour to make the hundred yard stretch under the hot sun. By the time he reached one of the side doors he felt like he was roasting his armor. He took out a small explosive charge and placed it on the locking mechanism. The explosion would be noticeable, but he would be long gone before then. He placed the pins accurately, had clank double check them, and retreated to a safe distance. He pressed the button on the activator and there was a bang. He waited a few sweltering minutes to see if anyone would come running, then he slid forward and kicked open the door.

The first thing he noticed was that it was dark inside. There was only sparse lighting created by the natural luminescence of the material the walls were made of. It would not be enough to see by if he didn't have his armor, which afforded him some degree of night vision.

He took out his Heavy Lancer and moved down the corridor. It was lined with rooms that led to who knew where, and the air reeked of Tyhrranoid stench. 'Strange though,' Ratchet thought, 'that although the Tyhrranoids were now robots that they still stank like a swamp.' He dismissed the thought and consulted the onboard AI for the building schematic. Looking over it, it appeared that there was a passage leading from a junction of four corridors, the only problem was the fact that it was heavily used and he was bound to encounter some Tyhrranoids along the way. 'What the hell.' He thought, 'They'll know we're here soon enough.' And he made his way to the junction.

When he got there, he was right. More so, however, then he wanted to be. The schematic seemed to have its inaccuracies, as on the map it showed this as a small room, but it was, in reality, an extremely large room. It was also filled with Tyhrranoids, all of which had their guns pointed at him the moment he entered.

It was mostly the three eyed terrors, but he spotted quite a few four, and even a few five eyed ones.

He nimbly flipped behind a nearby support just as they all started firing at him. He checked all of his weapons, and then took out his Splitter Rifle. He leaned around the pillar during a small lull in the fire and took aim on one of the five eyed Tyhrranoids, he pulled the trigger right as it fired and he took cover behind the support again. And none to soon, as the green blast whizzed by, singing his fur. Then a barrage of bright yellow blasts joined the ones already directed at him. 'Another strange thing today, I've never seen Tyhrranoids use those types of blasts, except the two eyed ones, but there are none here, I would have seen them!' He thought, confused. "Clank, give me a readout on those yellow blasts!" He yelled to his partner, who after a few short seconds responded, "Nothing, I see no targets that those blasts could be coming from. They could be cloaked but I doubt it!" Ratchet nodded and dropped five four eyed Tyhrranoids advancing on his position. He checked his Splitter Rifle ammo counter, fourteen shots left. "Ratchet," Clank said, "We can not stay here, I suggest moving over to that metal crate fifty meters to our left." Ratchet spotted it and nodded. Then slinging his Rifle across his back, sprinted forty and slid the last ten to stay low.

Unslinging his Splitter Rifle again, he dropped several more of the advancing Tyhrranoids, until the ammo counter read three. Then he removed his RYNO 2, leaned out and unleashed a barrage of tracking missiles. These homed in on the nearest 'noids and blew them to smithereens. "Ratchet I am reading half of the hostiles down or no factor." Clank reported. "Good," Ratchet said. "not much longer now then!" And with that stepped out, leveled his RYNO 2 and launched the rest of its ammunition.

Most of the Tyhrranoids died in that blast so it was a simple matter to mop up the last few with the Heavy Lancer. The unidentified yellow blasts had died along with the bulk of the Tyhrranoids. As he approached the appropriate corridor, he looked back at the gore splattered room and, despite himself and his loathing of Tyhrranoids, he did not envy the Tyhrranoid who would have to clean it up. He chuckled to himself and walked down the hall, Heavy Lancer ready.

He made it to the door leading to the research lab without encountering any more resistance. There were a few Tyhrranoids walking around in the corridors, but it was a simple matter to avoid them by jumping up and clinging to the exposed pipes above them. He was not caught.

For a few minutes, he stared at the door. It had a very large lock that would take a long time to pick, it was an old one and he would have to use conventional tools. Then he decided to forgo stealth, seeing as the complex was going to be blown to hell and back in a few minutes anyways, and pulled an explosive charge from his pack. He set it on the lock, retreated to a safe distance and pushed the activator button.

The ensuing explosion was louder that it was outside, but that was to be expected. Ratchet sprinted through the now open door and consulted the onboard map. The plasma generator room was not far from his current position, though he would have to pass through a Tyhrranoid weapon testing area. As he headed in the direction of the generator he passed several of the monsters, who jumped in surprise. He ignored them and sped onward into the lab room. There were guards waiting inside and he strafed past to the door, firing all the way, which kept them pinned down enough for him to slip past unscathed.

The generator was not far away now, only a hundred meters. A few more hallways and he was there.

It was bigger than he expected. It was in fact, a large dome designed to contain the plasma explosion which would happen if the generator failed. That wouldn't be a problem though as the explosion he was going to set off would destroy the complex but nothing else. It was perfectly weighed and proportioned to destroy the entire building, and no more.

In the center of the dome on a raised platform, the generator sat, like a coffin almost. It was guarded by two five eyed Tyhrranoids. Ratchet raised his Splitter Rifle and quickly disposed of them. Then he checked his ammo counter again, 'Damn!' He thought. 'Only one shell left!' He decided he would have to find more ammo later.

He ran to the platform and climbed the ladder to get to the generator. He examined it and found a hatch. Opening it he could see the plasma coil inside. This was where he would place the charge. He removed it from his pack, and placed it gently inside. Then he set it for sixty seconds and inserted and turned the primer key, which he then broke off so it could not be unset. He closed the hatch over the activated bomb and jumped off the other side of the platform.

He landed in a crouch and stood up to begin running again. The door on the other side of the dome automatically opened and he dashed through it, going in the direction of an open room not on the other side of the lab. It would have windows as it was some sort of Tyhrranoid relaxation area.

He rushed through corridors, not even bothering to attack the guards he breezed past. He didn't even quit when he got to the right door, he just kicked it open without losing momentum and threw himself out one of the windows.

The explosion went off behind him as he hit the ground in a roll. He stood up and turned around to admire his handiwork. The explosion was immense, and there would be nothing left of the research facility. "Well," He said, brushing himself off. "That went better than I expected."

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So, what did you think? Comments! All are appreciated, save flames! Again I would like to thank those of you who reviewed the prologue! Chapter two will be released in soon! Hope your enjoying! : )


	3. Phoenix Fire

Yay! Back again! Thanks to you who read and/or reviewed the previous chapter! This chapter will have some fluff in it, so enjoy, you people who like fluff! XD I don't really think there is much else to say so lets get right into it!

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Ratchet's ship arrived on the plains of Tyhrranosis just a few hundred meters from where he and Clank were standing. Bits of debris were still raining down from the sky in the aftermath of the detonation. The explosion had destroyed all of the research lab and broken away a large piece of the rock wall Ratchet had jumped off of when he had flung himself out the window to escape the carnage. The cliff was just a pile of rubble now, but, so was everything else!

As they began walking towards the ship, Ratchet turned to see a drop-ship rise up out of the rubble. Inside there was a greenish tinge, probably some more of the five eyed Tyhrranoids. It began to fly away but was quickly destroyed as it was hit by a gas canister thrown high into the air by the still volatile facility. There were still detonations going off in the debris, probably from smaller plasma reactors and the like. As he watched the ship fall and crash he thought about how misfortunate it was that it got hit with a stray gas canister like that one. Very misfortunate indeed… For them! Then he shrugged and made his way to the waiting ship.

They both hopped in and Ratchet threw his weapons in the back, then turned on the view screen to radio in Sasha about the mission's success. She quickly appeared on the screen, looking a bit flustered. "Ratchet reporting!" The Lombax said, saluting, even though he knew it wasn't the slightest bit necessary. She sighed and said, "I assume your mission was a success?" "Yeah… Are you ok, you look really tired." Ratchet replied, looking concerned. "Oh, its nothing, just under a lot of stress today. We had an unauthorized lockdown in G sector of the ship. The main AI probably just screwed up. Al is working on it now, but it'll take some time. We can't even see in there right now, all the cameras are down! What a mess…" She trailed off. "It'll be alright! Al will figure it out!" He reassured her. "I guess," She said, not totally convinced, "come back to the Phoenix as quickly as you can, I'll be waiting. Sasha out!" Ratchet nodded as she blipped off the screen. Then he started the engines and set a course for the Phoenix.

They arrived in the hanger just an hour later. Ratchet hopped out of his ship and unloaded his weapons, stowing them in the weapons closet again. Then he went to find Sasha. She was in front of the main view screen on the bridge, staring intently at some lines of code that were streaming across it. "So, what's with all this data?" Ratchet asked, startling her. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" She said, shaking her head and smiling a little, "And its an encrypted transmition from one of the moons in the Obani system. It doesn't seem like anything important, just a request for basic supplies. We intercepted it an hour ago. I'll have Al resend it to the intended recipient soon enough. God, there's so much to do!" She said as she collapsed into the Captain's chair. "How about we just go somewhere and relax. The Q-Force can handle the ship for a couple hours. You've been working hard, you deserve a break. It'll be fun!" Ratchet said, his face bright. "I guess your right. That lockdown really ruined my day." Sasha replied, nodding. "Great! Lets just go to Marcadia for the evening." He said, already walking towards the inter-ship transport. Sasha hopped down from the chair, hugged him, and began walking towards it herself.

As his ship rushed towards Marcadia, Ratchet looked out the cockpit. Even though he had been in space countless times before, he still marveled at how big it was. How cold as well. He would hate to be out there without a ship.

Then he turned to Sasha, and found her looking outside too. While she was staring into the dark abyss, he found his gaze softening as he looked at her. She one of the best things that had ever happened to him. Then she turned and saw him. "What?" She asked, smiling. "Nothing," he said quietly, "just you."

A while later they landed the ship at one of the rolling hills of the planet. The sun was out and the day was warm. There was a light breeze and the smells of new life filled the air. Spring always came green to Marcadia, more so than to any other planet. If you were to walk out on a spring day after a rain, there would be fragrant flowers growing everywhere and you wouldn't really want to leave.

Ratchet had been to Marcadia in the fall before, but only under the burning smells of battle. To him this experience was like nothing he had ever known before, and Sasha was able to identify a number of spring plants that only grew there, each one seemingly more colorful than the last.

They walked through the forest for a long time, just observing the wildlife and plants. Then abruptly, Ratchet's stomach rumbled. Sasha giggled. "What? I can't help it!" Ratchet said, faking exasperation. "You and your big appetite!" She teased. "Yeah yeah, can we just get some food?" He retorted, smiling. "Sure, I know a great place to go, come on, lets backtrack before it gets to late!" She said, already pulling him along by his hand.

Following Sasha's directions, Ratchet drove them to the restaurant. It was a small place, but homely. They were greeted quickly by a server, who without request took them to a booth near the back. When she was gone, Ratchet flipped up his menu and began examining it. Sasha chuckled to herself, "You and food!" The menu came down. "Again I say, I can't help it! Who are you to blame me anyways!" He smiled at her, only joking. "No one." She said as she leaned over and kissed him.

The waiter walked up and they broke apart, Sasha blushing just a little under her fur. The woman didn't even act like she noticed. Sasha had been to the restaurant before and already knew what she was going to order, but Ratchet, who could be picky at the best of times, took longer. But the waiter was patient and after about five minutes of looking Ratchet finally decided on a seafood dish. The waiter collected their menus and walked off to the kitchen. "Now, where were we?" Ratchet asked. Sasha grinned.

Their meals came only fifteen minutes later. The food was, indeed, fantastic, as Sasha had mentioned. Though much to her amusement, Ratchet contained himself while eating, contrary to his normal behavior: inhaling. "This really is excellent!" He said, his mouth full, which was one thing that never seemed to change. "Would I lie?" She asked. "I never said you did." He replied, swallowing. Then he tilted his head and stared into her eyes.

The waiter walked by at that moment as well, slipping their check onto the table. Both of their hands shot out to grab it, Ratchet's on bottom. "I've got this." He said. "No, I suggested the place, I know the costs, you shouldn't have to pay it." She retorted. "You give me so much in life, let me give a little more back!" "I could say the same thing!" Then Ratchets voice softened, "One more reason I love you. So stubborn!" To which she just laughed. "You know, you're pretty stubborn to!" When she said it however, she accidentally lifted her hand just a little. Ratchet took this opportunity and snatched the bill up. "There, now I have it!" He said, waving it in the air. Sasha just grinned and rolled her eyes in mock defeat.

He opened the bill and didn't even flinch at the high price, then put the bolts on the table, with a little extra for the tip. Then he and Sasha walked out of the diner.

"Its getting really late," Ratchet said, looking up at the dark sky. "Should we get back to the Phoenix?" Sasha shrugged. "Don't know, we don't really have to go back…" She winked. "Well, when you say it that way, lets not!" Ratchet said, laughing.

"Hey, look at this!" She exclaimed, pointing towards a news holo-paper dispenser. On the cover of the glowing paper, there was a picture of a grey creature in a business suit. "'Gleeman Vox, arrested for kidnapping, murder and over a dozen other crimes!'" Sasha read the headline. Reading further, she excerpted parts from it, "'Heroes kidnapped… Forced to fight each other… Children forced to be test subjects… Dreadzone… Vox network…' Ratchet, your lucky you weren't kidnapped as well!" Sasha whispered, her voice quivering just a little. "You give me way to much credit," He said calmingly. "I'm no hero, I'm just in the right places at the right times, or the wrong ones in some cases! And besides, he's behind bars, no way he's coming back now!" "I guess," she said, a little more reassured, "Lets go back to the Phoenix, your right, it is getting really late." Then they walked off, leaving the dark article in the news disk behind.

"We are approaching the Phoenix now," Ratchet said when they were a few kilometers out. As he engaged the landing sequence, Sasha peered through the view port of the cockpit and said, "It looks really dark down there in the hanger, I hope everything is ok…" "Relax," He said absently, "I doubt anything happened during our absence."

They landed, and Ratchet jumped out, then helped Sasha down as well. The darkness of the hanger bay loomed in front of them. "Come on, we can still see, lets go." She said, pulling him lightly along. They saw no one, which was strange, and nobody was there to greet them when they arrived at Sasha's private room. "This is weird, where is everyone?" Ratchet asked, looking around for any indication that the ship did indeed hold life other that theirs. "I don't know, but I really don't want to think about it right now, lets just see what's on the holovid." She said. Ratchet nodded his agreement, walked over to the couch, and flopped down. Sasha followed and lay down next to him. He wrapped his arms around her and turned the screen on.

The first thing that was on was the news, and the story about Gleeman Vox was plastered all over it. Reporters were going crazy trying to gain exclusive rights to the story, and no one was succeeding.

"Ratchet, please change the channel…" Sasha whispered. "This kind of news makes me nervous." "Of course!" he said, surfing through the channels until he landed on a documentary about Mutant Swamp Flies.

"Those things are so weird." She whispered. "Yeah, they are." Ratchet said as he watched the bugs light on and off. He continued surfing until Sasha finally took the remote from him and changed it to a music channel. The music was soft and light, Ratchet turned his head and stared into Sasha's eyes. "You just love to do that." she whispered. "Yes, I do." He replied, inclining his head. She closed the distance. Then her lips were on his. The music continued and for how long they remained like that, they didn't know…

After a little while the music changed to something more upbeat and they broke apart. Ratchet retrieved the remote from where it had slipped out of Sasha's hand and continued to flip the channels. "You seem amused by that too." She teased. "I am, but right now-"

He was cut off by a loud knocking on the door. Both of their heads snapped up and Ratchet jumped off the couch and ran to the door. Upon reaching it, he flung it open to find a Ranger standing outside. His fur lay flat again as he asked what the robot's business was. Sasha walked up as the it started to explain. "Well, you see, Sarge… And uh, Captain Sasha, as I'm sure you both are already aware of, there was a lockdown in G sector of the ship." The Ranger said nervously. "Well, right now, the lights should be off anyways, but they kinda shut off early. We have no power. We checked the electrical generator and its been tampered with. The big yellow guy is working on it now. He also was able to connect the cameras in that sector of the ship to a battery and they're running off that. The only problem is that we can only see in thermal. Sir, there are thermal signatures moving around in the engine room, cold ones, plus patches of warm on the engines. We don't yet know who they are but we know one thing. Sir, those patches on the engines, I think they're placing charges. I think they're gonna-" "Blow the ship." Ratchet finished for him grimly. Then he stomped the ground. "What is with people trying to blow up this ship. Really! I personally think they wanted to destroy it when Dr. Nefarious's Ninja Robots boarded it. Not only that, but today I blew up that Tyhrranoid base, and now this happens." He sighed. "It'll be fine Ratchet. Don't worry." Sasha calmed him, "But I assume you know what I want you to do now right?" "Yeah, I do." He said back. "I'll stop that explosion."

Then another Ranger ran up. "Captain, Sarge! I have another update on the engine room situation." He reported, saluting. "Go ahead Ranger." Sasha ordered. "Well, uh, those thermal forms that we saw in the engine room." He sighed. "Jeez… I don't know why we didn't see it before but, um… They look like Rangers!"

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Again, thank you for reading, please review etc etc… All that good stuff! : ) But really, any improvement ideas? I hope you are still enjoying, and the next chapter will be posted soon! Happy reading!


	4. Unwanted Guests

I hate long update times! It really is beginning to bug me! They just seem to keep getting longer. I promise you the next one won't be so long! : ) I think people are still reading this! XD Regardless, I'll continue writing, no matter how long my update times are! (Maybe five weeks is normal? XP) Ok, well, it's time to move onto the next chapter! Enjoy!

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The armor was stuffy, it always was. Even in the cool air conditioned interior of the ship it felt like he was roasting. Ratchet looked up at the ceiling fan in his room, wishing the damn thing would turn a little faster. It may be air conditioned but that didn't mean that it got circulated properly! He tugged at the gel-like interior of the armor. It was itching his fur something fierce today.

Sasha had ordered him to get some rest, because he would be deploying once the primary lights on the ship were out. He would have to be under cover of darkness because they had received orders from the president not to have any of the Rangers harmed during the mission. Harmed, the way Ratchet saw it, was a relative term. A few heads twisted the wrong way shouldn't damage any wires in there. Noise shouldn't be a problem either, he had handguns. Not his weapons of choice, but he couldn't very well take a RYNO in there, he would be given away instantly! So he would have to rely on something that wasn't so loud. A pistol.

He sighed, then picked up the one up that was lying on the bed next to him. He turned it over in his hands. It didn't feel right. But that was what he had to deal with, so that was what he would do…

He began to load it, slowly and methodically. There was something about this particular mission. He didn't like it. Everything felt wrong, like it was staged. Like something bigger was going to happen.

Something bigger was going to happen though, and soon. He hoped. He was ready and if all went well it would be fine. He decided to worry about the task in front of him instead for now. It would be his biggest stealth mission yet. He had no idea the number of enemies, nor their locations, nor their level of sanity. In essence, he was deploying blind.

He didn't like that.

There was always something, even on the toughest of missions. Something that would help, some intel that would be invaluable. The only thing he really had as of now was the art of stealth and the element of surprise. Plus that, Clank wouldn't be there… Apparently he had been out all day, starting production on another Secret Agent Clank film. Ratchet sighed, it seemed like it really dominated the little robot's life nowadays…

Then the lights went out.

His ear mike keyed up. It was Sasha, up on the bridge. He picked up his helmet and slid it over his head. Then he depressed the button on his neck and whispered into the mike, "I'm ready. Any more news?" There was a clatter of fingers on a keyboard before Sasha answered, "Not much, there's a lot of movement down there but it's still impossible to tell what exactly is going on. Are you sure you want to do this?" Ratchet thought about that for a split second, but he already knew what he was going to say. "Its what I have to do. Don't worry, I'll be fine." "I do worry, and always will. Be careful!" She whispered back. He smiled. "I'll keep that in mind."

He slid his pistol into the newly outfitted thigh holster on his leg. It was an attachment to the Infernox Armor, one he had consequently never used. He dimmed the pulsing red lights on his armor as a precaution for every stealth mission. (He had always questioned the tactical relevance of the things…) Then walked over to the door. It hissed open and he stood in the doorway for a moment, then continued along the walls in the hall. He soon reached the archway at the end. The hanger was just ahead, something that would be difficult to conquer. There had to be a way across to the inter-ship transport. Thing was, he would have to set it on its way, then get into the section underneath, a normally restricted area.

Seeing no other options, he sprinted to the dual staircases, his feet making little noise against the polished floor. Crouched low to the floor with his back near the wall, he slowly ascended the left staircase, suddenly thankful that it was solid and not creaky. Then he posed the question to himself: 'Why all this sneaking around before I even get near the objective.' Then another thought occurred to him, an obvious one, 'Because stupid, there are Rangers everywhere, for all you know they could be on the fritz too!'

His curiosity self satisfied, he stepped onto the platform of the transport, then slipped off while the door was closing. And with that, the device was on its way, leaving the section below it completely open. He dropped down to the lower level and took a long look around.

It was obvious that his quarry had been here already. The computer screens were smashed and the keyboards were a mess. This was a minor control room, but all the same, not something to be destroyed. He proceeded to the door, palming the panel beside it with his hand, to show that he had clearance. Technically, he had clearance to go anywhere in the ship, but he never really had to use it.

There was a metallic click and the door slid open by itself. He stepped inside and the first thing he noticed was the sickly sweet smell of motor oil. He knew it by heart. All those years on Veldin were well wasted. But why here? Then he saw them, piles of oil drums, stacked against the far door in a barricade, as if meant to keep something in, or out. There was no way he had the patience, time, or really will to shift those, plus it would just make a lot of noise. So he would have to search for another way past them.

Undoubtedly there would be at least one guard stationed behind that door, and there were no other doors in this hallway. He looked up. A ventilation shaft jutted out from the ceiling. He rolled his eyes. Wall jumping up, he caught the grate on the first kick off, his weight pulled it off its hinges but his hand slipped by the time it fell. He hit the ground first and deftly caught it before it could hit too. He lay it by the wall and jumped again, this time catching the inside edge of the shaft. He pulled himself up and he was inside.

The shaft was small, that was the first thing that struck his mind. 'Who's dumb idea was it to use the ventilation shaft…' He asked himself. 'Oh yeah, mine.' He sighed and began to pull himself along, sliding on his hands and knees towards a column of light coming from the floor ten feet in front of him. Reaching it, he realized that it was another grate in the ceiling. Just as expected, there was a guard below it.

The reports were right, it was a Ranger.

There seemed nothing special about it, until he noticed it's eye. It was red, blood red. Normal Ranger eyes were orange. But then again, this was no ordinary Ranger. Looking around the shaft, he saw that it came to a dead end a little while further. That taken into account he decided that there was no choice but to drop down onto the Ranger's head, maybe extract some info out of him… With a little force.

Reaching his long fingers through the grate, he found the bolts protruding from the edges and began to twist them off. They turned easily, without a sound, as a result of the well oiled atmosphere of the ship. It wasn't until the fourth and final bolt that he had trouble. As he twisted it off its screw, it came off earlier than expected and he dropped it, right onto the Rangers head.

Before it had time to react, he busted through the grating and landed on its back, one arm around his neck, the other holding his pistol. He done it all in one fluid motion, dove through the grate, drawn the gun, and grabbed the robot's neck. He jammed the barrel into its green head and growled into its voice receptor, "Surprise asshole. Move and I pull the trigger, talk and I pull the trigger, if you so much as twitch without me telling you, I'll pull the trigger. And we don't want that now do we?" He took the Robot's silence as a no. "I'm going inside to meet some of your friends, anything I need to worry about?" He jammed the gun farther into it's skull. "They have guns!" "I'm shocked and amazed, what else?" Ratchet queried further. "We were sent to capture- Uh, to destroy the ship!" The robot stuttered back. "Capture who?" He asked. "Nobody! I made a mistake!" "Capture who?" Ratchet began to twist the robot's neck. "Ahhhh! I don't know who he is! A high ranking official! Someone important!" "Someone… important?" "Yes, go ahead, pull the trigger. I don't know anything else!" Ratchet considered this. Then said, "No, I still have use for you! Walk over to that door over there," He indicated it with a wave of the gun. "And ask your friends to open it. You know what happens if you don't do exactly what I say." The robot silently complied, going to the door and talking to the guards on the other side. "I need to go to the engine room. Open the door!" It then hissed open to reveal two Rangers standing beyond it.

Ratchet moved the pistol and shot them both in the head. Then dropped it and returned to the final Ranger. He flipped opened the hatch on the back of it's neck and yanked one of the wires out. It slumped to the floor. The whole thing had taken only seconds.

He rolled off it's back and muttered to himself, "Sometimes I really hate this job." Picking himself up, he edged around the bodies. Then he slid through the open door and down the hall. Consulting the map on his HUD he saw that the engine room was due east about one hundred feet. There was a corridor that would take him directly to it a few hallways down.

Upon reaching the door leading to the hall, he saw that it too was blocked by barrels. He looked up again. No vent. He would have to move the barrels… Quietly, very quietly, he began to shift them. It took over fifteen minutes to get the door clear enough to palm it and move to the corridor.

As the door slid open, he knew he was in trouble. There were guards everywhere in the hall. He would have to make a distraction. Consulting the map again, he saw that there was a lights control room branching off from that hall. It would be perfect. He slipped past the few guards that he could and almost bumped into another. When he finally reached the door to the control room he was surprised that none of them had seen him. Opening it, he saw that the room was filled with computers. They were just camera monitors and he quickly found the one for this hall.

There was a switch next the keyboard that said, "Lights" He rolled his eyes, thinking about how obvious it was that this was the correct switch (it was big and red too…), and flicked it. As expected, the lights flashed off and he heard footsteps running towards the room. He quickly slipped out and flattened himself against the wall in the dark. It seemed like every Ranger in the ship was running to the room. As they all stupidly filed in, he crept past the door and ran into the hall again. There was one Ranger left on watch, who he decided to slip by instead of shoot.

The door at the end of the hall would lead to the engine room. All he would have to do was open it, sneak in and disable the charges, theoretically. He opened the door and slipped inside.

They were everywhere, red eyes flashing, must have been twenty of them, all in the same room. He might disable the charge but he wasn't getting out after they noticed that! But then he thought for a minute, 'What if I don't have to disable the charge, more likely than not, they only made it enough to destroy the engines. If I can get it off the engine, run for my life straight through them and drop it on the way, it might just blow them up and not the engines, giving me time to escape. I'll have to knick the detonator off of one of them though. And that'll be kept close to the bomb…'

His plan decided more or less, he began to edge around the room. Sticking close to the walls, he was able to slip past every robot in the room. It was just luck. 'These Rangers aren't cowardly anymore, they're just… Stupid.' He mused as he made his way to the engine.

Then he was there, right next to the bomb. A light blinked red and green on it every few seconds. 'There!' Right next to him, not a foot away, on the waist of a ranger was a small cylinder; the detonator. The robot had its back turned, another stupid move, but how would it know. He reached out towards it and gently gripped the detonator between his forefinger and thumb. He slowly lifted it until it unclipped, then whisked it away. The robot seemed to take no notice at all.

Now to lift the charge off of the engine. It was stuck there with adhesive so he drew a small knife from his belt and began to pry it off. Thank goodness the lights were off, or he would have been spotted immediately.

As soon as he finally cut through the bonds, a shout rang out, "Hey who's that!" A patrolling Ranger had spotted him, probably by his shadow, and pointed him out. Ratchet lifted the bomb off of the coil and ran for it, right through the big room and right through the mass of robots in the center of it. He dropped the charge when he thought he was midway through the maw and continued to sprint for the door.

Arms and hands reached for him, but none of them could grab his armor, for it was made to have as few handholds as possible. Then he was out through the door. He shut it and whipped out the detonator for the bomb. He clicked the button on the top and started running again. There was a muffled thump from behind the door and he didn't know if he got them all but it would hold them for long enough.

He drew his pistol as the lights _finally_ came back on. There was a flood of the Rangers that were in the long corridor earlier. He didn't even stop, just fired into the mob and kept going. He saw several of them drop but didn't have time to check how many. Then he busted through the door and ran back to the one with the three destroyed Guards in it. He jumped over the bodies and made his way to the hatch on the opposite end of the room. 'Damn!' He thought, he'd have to use the vent again, as the other side was blocked.

He jumped up and clung from it, then pulled himself in. When he got to the other shaft, he slid down into it and into the room below. Then he walked over to the door and opened it.

Sasha was standing outside. A small army of Rangers waited behind her. These didn't have red eyes. "Ratchet," She started. "Thank god your ok! This group of Rangers has been screened by Al, they should be fine. They're gonna clean up in there." She smiled, "You saved my ship again. Thank." Then Ratchet removed his helmet and returned her smile. Then, turning to the waiting Rangers he said, "You heard her! Get in there and clean up whatever Guards I missed!" He nodded towards the door and the Rangers began to file in and began to work on clearing the barrels at the end of the hall.

Ratchet closed the door behind them and was quickly blown over by Sasha! She hugged him tightly to her and whispered in his ear, "I always hate it when you do things like that…" "What do you mean?" He mumbled back, face pressed into her fur. "Just when you go and fight! I always worry that you'll come back horribly wounded, or you'll die, or you'll get captured-" He cut her off, "I know, but you don't need to worry so much, I'll be fine! I'm more than a match for a few Rangers." "I know, but I still worry." She whispered back. "So I've noticed, but I'll always come back, no matter what."

(A while later.) The Ranger lay on a table, arms at its sides, head back, light out. Al stood next to it, a pair of pliers in his hands. As the bridge crew looked on, he began his explanation. "The folly we were experiencing with this group of Rangers was nothing more than a few misplaced wires and chip. Assuming the chips are programmed correctly, reassigning this chip here," He began to reach into the robot's head, working around with the pliers. "and these two wires here, and lastly this memory pod here… Aha! Done! Now just to power it up." He opened a hatch within the head and pushed a button inside. The Ranger's eye glowed red for a split second then quickly switched back to the normal orange. "See!" Al said triumphantly. "Its just fine. Now, soldier," He addressed the robot, "Execute patrol route four." The Ranger saluted, then began to walk off to perform its commanded duties.

"All there was to it! I think…" Al said, smiling. Sasha stood up and said "Great! Now, could you do that to all the others that weren't destroyed, they could still be of use to us!" "Of course." Al said matter of factly. Then he strode off to retrieve the other disabled Robots.

Almost as soon as he left, the view screen on the bridge lit up red with a big "ALERT" right in the middle. Sasha ran over to the Command Chair and punched some keys. "Oh my god! There are Tyhrranoid ships attacking Metropolis! That whole ordeal with the Rangers was just a diversion! Ratchet, I hate to say this but, I need you down there! Stop them!" Sasha said, whipping around to face him. Ratchet nodded angrily, "I'll get clank!"

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Alright, another chap complete! (And yes, that was a Splinter Cell 2 reference in there, I thought it would be funny!) Again I say, I promise the next update time will be shorter! For those of you who are actually reading this consistently (If you're out there!) stick with me! This is my longest chapter yet… (I guess is was trying to make up for the update time! XD) Hope you liked it and I'll be back real soon!


	5. Crashing The Party

Hi everyone who is still reading this! (Love that joke…) And I'm back again! See, I told you it would be less than the five week long last update! Yes, it was a little while (I have been SO busy lately!) but it is less than last time! XD Hope you enjoyed the previous chap and thanks to you who read and/or reviewed and/or PMed me about mah story! : ) So… Cool! Alright, on to the next chapter!

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Sasha called him to the bridge before he set out. "Be careful. There are a lot of Tyhrranoids down there." She started, "It doesn't matter what they want, take down the airborne ones and we'll come in after and clean up the ground ones. Civilians will be in a panic so watch out for them too. Just be careful, ok?" He smiled, "You know I will," He pulled her close and pressed his face into her fur. Breathing deeply he said, "I love you Sash." They had said it before. Lots of times. But they had been so busy lately that they just hadn't had time for many moments like this and he felt he had to say it. "I love you too Ratchet, you know I do." They shared a kiss and he departed to his ship. Once there, he took off and started on his way.

Holostar Studios soon came into sight as Ratchet's ship approached it. Yellow and gleaming with its signposts and sets. Tour cars putted around doing their jobs and everything seemed to be back to normal after the Tyhrranoid attack on the movie company.

However, Ratchet was not here for the tours, he was here to pick up Clank, who seemed to be on set any spare second he got. Ratchet sighed as he thought once again how much time Clank spent every day making his new movie. He didn't even come back to the Phoenix some nights. And Ratchet was cut out of this film as well…

'Eh…' He thought. 'Cant blame em, he has his movie and I have Sasha.' His heart warmed at the thought of her. 'Besides, he still comes on most of my battle missions anymore, so its not like we don't get time together!' Ratchet nodded, self assured, and sped towards the landing bay.

Clank was already there, as Ratchet had called ahead for the arrangement, and he hopped in on his own. "Hows it goin?" Ratchet asked as he started the engine again. "Fantastic!" Clank began. "We have a new director in addition to the old one and a whole new cast of characters and the plot is incredible. Our writers are really working around the clock to get this script done and-" "Whoa whoa whoa!" Ratchet cut him off, grinning widely. "Don't give me all the details yet! Who are some of the new actors?" Clank thought for a minute and started, "Well, we have Captain Quark actually, if you were wondering what happened to him, and we have the Galactic President in one of the scenes, his agreement was most unexpected! And then we have…"

As the pair left the atmosphere the names continued until Clank had railed off the entire cast, including Quark twice, among others! (Even robots get confused!) It sounded to Ratchet like a million bolt bonanza. It was an expensive cast with an expensive set with even more expensive costumes! Oh well, they could manage just fine with the leftover bolts from the previous movie!

After a while, Kerwan came into sight, a bustling planet, silver and jagged with all of its buildings, to many to count, and to many to seem like there was any arrangement to it whatsoever. The planet's surface seemed to be swarming with Tyhrranoids. As Ratchet looked on, he began to wonder exactly what they were supposed to do to stop it. It looked like they were only attacking Metropolis, and not anywhere else. There was a distinct organization to it, and he could see that it was going to be like the first time he fought there with the Rangers… It brought back memories, good and bad.

He scanned the surface for a place to land, before setting down on a small platform upon the back of a large building. He hopped out, as did clank, and lugged the only two weapons he had brought with him (For weight purposes); the Tempest, and the N60 Hurricane out of the ship.

He decided to use the Hurricane first, as it was always a good multipurpose. This was going to be a risky mission, as they were so high up, falling would be a hazard, as would getting from building to building. He could use the walkways, but that would be to obvious. Thinking for a minute, he decided on something a little less immediately obvious, if not a little more dangerous… And stupid.

He walked over to the edge and looked for one of the hover cars that zipped around the city. Now of course, there were hundreds of them, but he needed one that would come close to the building. These cars were in a frenzy though, their drivers panicking as the Tyhrranoid ships bombarded them with laser strikes from all directions and he would have to be careful not to get splattered, for lack of a better term.

Soon along came one, a mint green Manray 5, coming right past the curving walls of the building. 'Now for the stupid part,' he thought, before flinging himself at the oncoming car. He latched on and clung for dear life, all the while with Clank yelling in his ear about how illogical this was!

The driver swerved and swerved, until, after a few minutes, he appeared to calm down. Not much though, as he continued to race through the clouds. 'Must have thought he shook me off.' Ratchet mused. "Clank!" He yelled, "Update my HUD with all cars in the area, keep me posted on their locations!" The robot only nodded, probably still thinking about all the ways they could get killed right now.

'What to do about this attack?' Ratchet wondered to himself. He had no idea why the Tyhrranoids were here, where they had come from or how to stop them. There was no way to kill them all single-handedly! He was good, but not that good! Still latched to the top of the car, he scanned the horizon, few Tyhrranoids on the streets or in the buildings. So if he could destroy those ships, the Rangers could come in (After a thorough screening.) and clean up the ones on the ground. But how to do it…

Then he thought back a while… They had studied Tyhrranoid technology before, not in great detail, but how their flight worked. It was all electrical, plasma thruster technology. This type of plasma, in its raw state is super reactive to electricity, so when a current is run through it, it created an explosion. Tyhrranoid ships channeled that explosion, and made it continuous, to move their ships. It was contained in the obvious silver bulb on the bottom of the ship, and had nozzles leading off from the bulb to the thrust cones. Turning off the thrusters would make the ship drop like a rock.

Then a thought hit him. 'How would I turn off an entire electrical grid with one fell swoop. If I wanted everything down what could I use?' He knew of only one device that could do that. An EMP.

Yes, it would shut down all power, yes it would cause some hysteria (As if there wasn't any already!), and yes it would piss some people off. But it would also get rid of the Tyhrranoid ships. All of them. And that was exactly what this mission required. Simple.

Except for one thing.

Where the hell was he going to get an EMP?

They wouldn't just have any lying around in the city! This was the hole in his plan, the chink in the armor. He needed an EMP and he needed it fast, or the whole place would be rubble.

Thinking fast, he radioed Sasha on the Phoenix. "Captain Sasha here. Ratchet?" She asked, a little surprised. She quickly regained her head though. "Yeah, Sash, this place is a mess! We need a little support to clean it up, or its not gonna last much longer…" "What do you need Ratchet?" She queried, already alerting the supply drop squad. "We need an EMP big enough to cover the entire Metropolis area." He said. Sasha frowned. "You know that would cut power to everywhere right? People would be out of electricity that they desperately need!" He sighed, "I know, but it's the only option. Its either that, or see the city reduced to rubble. I think that's a no contest kinda thing…" She thought for a minute, and then it was her turn to sigh and she said, "Alright, I guess it should be fine, no one uses electrical cars anymore so it should only knock out their nav systems. If they cant drive without that they shouldn't be on the road to begin with… The only EMP we have that's big enough will knock out all power for three hours, we'll drop in some Rangers to clean up and keep the peace after the shockwave. Ratchet, you'll need to get out of there before the EMP goes off. It could shut down Clank. His circuits aren't designed to withstand that and he'd get knocked out, for a long time. Just be careful alright!" "You know I will!" He smiled. "Yeah, but I never stop worrying. We'll be dropping the EMP right in the central building courtyard. That's where you'll have to set it off. Its only just big enough to cover the city. Go for it Ratchet! Good luck!"

Then she cut off. Ratchet wasn't bothered though, he knew she would be busy on the Phoenix keeping things going smoothly and closely watching the situation on Metropolis. It wasn't gonna be easy to get to the central city, considering the fact that he was on the outskirts… 'I guess I'll just have to jack a car…' That thought in mind, he began looking for a likely candidate. There weren't may cars coming near but it was only a matter of time… He was amazed no one had seen him yet!

Ironically, at that very moment, a Tyhrranoid ship started to bombard the car he clung! The driver panicked again and started swerving wildly! Then Ratchet got another stupid idea.

Slowly, very slowly, he stood up on the roof, and riding it like a hoverboard he moved his N60 in line with the oncoming ship. He fired a burst at it but it kept coming, spraying laser shots at him all the way! He managed to avoid them but as it passed overhead he had to duck to avoid getting squashed!

It curved and began coming around for another pass, and as it did the car beneath him took a sharp turn! Ratchet lost his footing and slid towards the top of the passenger door. Clank had to fire his thruster pack just to keep them from falling during the turn!

After the driver leveled back out Ratchet decided that his N60 wasn't gonna do squat against the dropship in this state. Then another stupid idea popped in! (He was having a lot of those that day…) He drew out his Tempest and leveled it with the oncoming ship. The full charge would at least take out the pilot so he began the charging sequence. He could feel the electrical field building around him as static began to crackle through his fur. It was ready to fire in seconds and he locked the targeting of the weapon on to the front of the ship. It being the only target, the shock would penetrate the glass and kill the pilot. He released the trigger.

Electricity arced, sparks flew and glass shattered. Amazingly though, the ship was still intact. It was a good thing anyways, the pilot was dead. Ideal. As the ship maintained its now wobbly course towards him, Ratchet, with the help of Clank, launched himself at the pilots hatch. Latching on he pulled the dead Tyhrranoid out and took a seat at the controls.

He was a fantastic pilot, but these controls were foreign to him. "Clank, can you label each control on my HUD? What they do?" "Of course Ratchet." The robot said simply as the labels appeared. The controls soon became obvious and Ratchet placed his hands on the touchpads used to control the ship.

Guiding it was a breeze, it was all finger and hand motion! He soon had the ship at the drop zone. About to set down, he noticed that it to was swarming with Tyhrranoids. He decided to make use of the heavily armed dropship one last time and take the lot down. Examining his HUD, he saw that weapon controls were on the left and right, above the movement controls. They were twin handles, each used to manipulate one laser cannon, with buttons on the top obviously meant to fire. He was going to have to fire by line of sight, as the ship status showed that the cockpit window and the firing reticule were destroyed. 'Another piece of technology we could use, instead of a display, we could just project the reticule directly onto the canopy itself!' He mused, noting where the reticule must have been.

The ship seemed to be capable of generating its own shots, because they seemed to be never ending as he mowed down Tyhrranoid after Tyhrranoid. Soon, all were gone except for a few one eyed ones, which subsequently hid.

He lowered the ship to the ground and got out. 'Perfect timing.' He thought as the allied dropship came overhead. It came to a hovering stop and extended its gangplank. Two Rangers came running down it with a large metal box on wheels. One was pushing it and one was pulling it to keep it steady. They wheeled it in front of Ratchet, saluted, and got back on the ship, which took off in a hurry, a little faster than regulations speed...

He sighed and knelt down to the various controls on the box. He set the time for six minutes, and a timer on his HUD for the same amount. It would trigger at the same time the EMP did. He then extended the blast radius to its fullest and punched the starter button. Both timers started counting down and the box began to hum.

Time to go! He looked around the clearing, not much was around though that would do for transportation… There! A discarded hoverboard lay against some rubble. Suddenly he was glad he'd ridden a little before.

Getting it started took a few seconds, but kicking the accelerator pad on the back he soon got it coughing into motion. It was wobbly at first, but it soon came under control and he sped from the center city.

Soon enough though, laser fire started whizzing past his head. "Shit!" He muttered under his breath. Now he knew why the board was disposed of. Either the pilot got killed or he got smart enough to realize that he was a sitting duck. The difference between the previous pilot and Ratchet however, was that Ratchet knew some things most people didn't. "Clank! Get ready for some thrust pack maneuvers! Time for some fancy flyin!" Clank nodded his confirmation and began charging his boot thrusters.

Two Tyhrranoid saucers flew up beside them, one on the left and right. They moved sideways, guns pointed directly at Ratchet. He listened carefully for the shots, and when the came, he cut all power to the board, making them drop like a rock. Just in time too, the shots glanced of his helmet and continued on into the opposite ship. By the time he got the board back running again there was already shrapnel falling around him.

As they continued on he glanced back up at the timer, it read; 4:28. Barely less than four and a half minutes. He was wasting time, he had to get back to his ship and off this planet!

He drew his N60 and kept the board steady while he took aim at an incoming dropship. A trio of rounds penetrated the cockpit and killed the pilot. He had to jump off the board to avoid the now driverless ship, while the board went under he went over, and when they met again on the other side, he almost missed it! He had to cling to the edge and flip himself on again.

There! His ship was in sight! Just a few more blocks to go. He flew over one of the walkways, meaning to open the canopy of his ship and jump off the board into it. That didn't happen though, as several shots came from below and knocked the board out from under him. He hit the ground with a thud and rolled, bringing himself to a standing position. He whipped around with his finger on a hair trigger. A cold metallic laugh came from somewhere inside a dark building leading off of the walkway, but when he went to investigate, there was nothing there…

Unnerved, he ran back to his ship, hopped in, started it, and took off. He checked the timer again. 1:52. Plenty of time to spare. He sighed with relief and set a course for the Phoenix.

It soon came into sight over Marcadia. He set down his ship in the hanger and hopped out. Clank wandered off to his new private quarters and left Ratchet to his own doings. He removed his helmet and walked to the bridge.

Sasha was there of course. "Ratchet! Great job down there! Everything is cleared up and a squad of Rangers is already working to finish the job. Should be over in a matter of hours! You know the drill hotshot! Full report!" She smiled at him. "Captain, we suffered no losses, and no problems at all. Nothing majorly suspicious to report! The EMP was set where appropriate and all airborne enemies were down or no factor. Mission success." He confirmed. She nodded. "Yes, I agree. Great work Ratchet, go take a good long rest." "Thanks Sash. By the way, you've been pretty stressed lately. I think we need to go planetside again!" She smiled back at him.

* * *

Ok, so, as should be obvious to people who read the last version of this chapter, things have changed, a lot. I hated how it ended before, so for better or for worse, I've changed it and saved what happened for another day. I hope this improved it... Those of you who did read it, give me a little feedback as to what you think about the changes. To everyone, how is it now? Still liking it? Summer is almost here for me! Its been really hard to get these things written but I'm doing my best. I promised less than last time and I think I delivered… Pretty much! XP During the summer I'll be able to update on a MUCH more consistent basis! Hope you are still enjoying! Review, PM me, and happy reading!


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